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Akhenaten
Akhenaten (died. 1336/1334 BCE), previously known as Amenhotep IV, was a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the Amarna Period. The son ofAmenhotep III and Tiye, he was married to Nefertiti and was the father of Meritaten and Tutankhamun, and possibly Smenkhkare, his successor.1 Biography At some point during his reign, Amenhotep IV acquired anApple of Eden, which he associated with Aten, the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology. Revering the Apple's power, he and his wife Nefertiti introduced a new monotheistic religion to Egypt centered around "Aten", changing his name to Akhenaten in the process.2 As a result, many Egyptians were forced to celebrate their gods in secret.1 Akhenaten eventually died in the mid 1330s and was buried in a rock-cut tomb in the Valley of the Kings.2 Legacy In the aftermath of his death, Akhenaten was branded a heretic by most of the Egyptian population. His monuments were dismantled and hidden, his statues were destroyed, and his name excluded from the king lists, all in an attempt to erase him from Egyptian history.2 Nevertheless, Akhenaten continued to be worshipped by a group of followers, who later constructed a sanctuary inThebes, which was eventually replaced by the Temple of Karnak. By the 1st century BCE, the cult resided in a farmlands situated outside of the city.3 The Aten was later passed down to his successor,4 and eventually to his son Tutankhamun who, instead of continuing his father's monotheistic beliefs, decided to restore the old Egyptian gods to prominence and passed the artifact to the priests of Amun.2 Furthermore, Akhenaten's vision of the Aten eventually manifested as a form for his afterlife, where his spirit resided in.2 In 38 BCE Akhenaten's spirit, alongside those of his wife and son, Tutankhamun, and the Great PharaohRamesses II, were seemingly returned to the world of the living by the God's Wife of Amun, Isidora, who had possession of the Aten.2 The Hidden One Bayek, having investigated this, eventually travelled to Akhenaten's afterlife, where he sprinkled dust from a statue of Amun on his throne, summoning the spirit of the deceased pharaoh to combat him. Bayek eventually defeated the spirit, supposedly bringing his spirit to rest.4 Akhenaten (/ˌækəˈnɑːtən/;1 also spelled Echnaton,7 Akhenaton,8 Ikhnaton,9 and Khuenaten;1011meaning "Effective for Aten"), known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV (sometimes given itsGreek form, Amenophis IV, and meaning "Amun Is Satisfied"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty who ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten, which is sometimes described as monolatristic,henotheistic, or even quasi-monotheistic. An early inscription likens the Aten to the sun as compared to stars, and later official language avoids calling the Aten a god, giving the solar deity a status above mere gods. Akhenaten tried to shift his culture from Egypt's traditional religion, but the shifts were not widely accepted. After his death, his monuments were dismantled and hidden, his statues were destroyed, and his name excluded from the king lists.12 Traditional religious practice was gradually restored, and when some dozen years later rulers without clear rights of succession from the 18th Dynasty founded a new dynasty, they discredited Akhenaten and his immediate successors, referring to Akhenaten himself as "the enemy" or "that criminal" in archival records.13 He was all but lost from history until the discovery during the 19th century of the site of Akhetaten, the city he built and designed for the worship of Aten, at Amarna.14 Early excavations at Amarna by Flinders Petrie sparked interest in the enigmatic pharaoh, and a mummy found in the tomb KV55, which was unearthed in 1907 in a dig led by Edward R. Ayrton, is likely that of Akhenaten. DNA analysis has determined that the man buried in KV55 is the father of King Tutankhamun,15 but its identification as Akhenaten has been questioned.616171819 Modern interest in Akhenaten and his queen Nefertiti comes partly from his connection with Tutankhamun (even though Tutankhamun's mother was not Nefertiti, but a woman named by archaeologists The Younger Lady), partly from the unique style and high quality of the pictorial arts he patronized, and partly from ongoing interest in the religion he attempted to establish. Contents * 1Early reign as Amenhotep IV * 2Name change * 3Religious policies * 4Pharaoh and family depictions ** 4.1Family and relations * 5International relations * 6Death, burial and succession * 7Implementation of Atenism and later collapse * 8Speculative theories ** 8.1Akhenaten and monotheism in Abrahamic religions ** 8.2Possible illness ** 8.3Smenkhkare * 9In the arts ** 9.1Plays ** 9.2Novels ** 9.3Music ** 9.4Film ** 9.5Other * 10Ancestry * 11See also * 12Notes and references ** 12.1Notes ** 12.2Bibliography ** 12.3Further reading * 13External links Early reign as Amenhotep IVedit Relief representing Amenhotep IV before he changed his name to Akhenaten, Neues Museum, Berlin The future Akhenaten was a younger son of Amenhotep III and Chief Queen Tiye. The eldest son Crown Prince Thutmosewas recognized as the heir of Amenhotep III but he died relatively young and the next in line for the throne was a prince named Amenhotep.20 Sandstone fragment from the temple of Amenhotep III showing a young prince, probably Akhenaten before he became a king. 18th Dynasty. From Thebes, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London There is much controversy around whether Amenhotep IV succeeded to the throne on the death of his father Amenhotep III or whether there was a coregency (lasting as long as 12 years according to some Egyptologists). Current literature by Eric Cline, Nicholas Reeves, Peter Dorman and other scholars comes out strongly against the establishment of a long coregency between the two rulers and in favour of either no coregency or a brief one lasting one to two years at the most.21 Other literature byDonald Redford, William Murnane, Alan Gardiner and more recently by Lawrence Berman in 1998 contests the view of any coregency whatsoever between Akhenaten and his father.22 In February 2014, the Egyptian Ministry for Antiquities announced what it called conclusive evidence that Akhenaten shared power with his father for at least 8 years. The evidence came from the inscriptions found in the Luxor tomb of VizierAmenhotep-Huy.2324 A team of Spanish archeologists has been working at this tomb. Bronze plate with the titulary of Amenhotep IV before he changed his name to Akhenaten, British Museum. Amenhotep IV was crowned in Thebes and there he started a building program. He decorated the southern entrance to the precincts of the temple of Amun-Re with scenes of his worshiping Re-Harakhti. He soon decreed the construction of a temple dedicated to the Aten in Eastern Karnak. This Temple of Amenhotep IV was called the Gempaaten ("The Aten is found in the estate of the Aten"). The Gempaaten consisted of a series of buildings, including a palace and a structure called the Hwt Benben (named after the Benben stone) which was dedicated to Queen Nefertiti. Other Aten temples constructed at Karnak during this time include the Rud-menu and the Teni-menu, which may have been constructed near the Ninth Pylon. During this time he did not repress the worship of Amun, and the High Priest of Amun was still active in the fourth year of his reign.20The king appears as Amenhotep IV in the tombs of some of the nobles in Thebes: Kheruef (TT192), Ramose (TT55) and the tomb of Parennefer (TT188).25 In the tomb of Ramose, Amenhotep IV appears on the west wall in the traditional style, seated on a throne with Ramose appearing before the king. On the other side of the doorway, Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti are shown in the window of appearance, with the Aten depicted as the sun disc. In the Theban tomb of Parennefer, Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti are seated on a throne with the sun disk depicted over the king and queen.25 Among the latter-known documents referring to Amenhotep IV are two copies of a letter from the Steward Of Memphis Apy (or Ipy) to the pharaoh. The documents were found in Gurob and are dated to regnal year 5, third month of the Growing Season, day 19.26 Name changeedit On day 13, Month 8, in the fifth year of his reign, the king arrived at the site of the new city Akhetaten (now known as Amarna). A month before that Amenhotep IV had officially changed his name to Akhenaten.20 Amenhotep IV changed most of his 5 fold titulary in year 5 of his reign. The only name he kept was his prenomen or throne name of Neferkheperure. Religious policiesedit Fragment with cartouche of Akhenaten, which is followed by epithet Great in his Lifespan and the title of Nefertiti Great King's Wife. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London Pharaoh Akhenaten (center) and his family worshiping the Aten, with characteristic rays seen emanating from the solar disk. Talatat blocks from Akhenaten's Aten temple in Karnak Some debate has focused on the extent to which Akhenaten forced his religious reforms on his people.28 Certainly, as time drew on, he revised the names of the Aten, and other religious language, to increasingly exclude references to other gods; at some point, also, he embarked on the wide-scale erasure of traditional gods' names, especially those of Amun.29 Some of his court changed their names to remove them from the patronage of other gods and place them under that of Aten (orRa, with whom Akhenaten equated the Aten). Yet, even at Amarna itself, some courtiers kept such names as Ahmose ("child of the moon god", the owner of tomb 3), and the sculptor's workshop where the famous Nefertiti bust and other works of royal portraiture were found is associated with an artist known to have been calledThutmose ("child of Thoth"). An overwhelmingly large number of faience amulets at Amarna also show that talismans of the household-and-childbirth gods Bes and Taweret, the eye of Horus, and amulets of other traditional deities, were openly worn by its citizens. Indeed, a cache of royal jewelry found buried near the Amarna royal tombs (now in the National Museum of Scotland) includes a finger ring referring to Mut, the wife of Amun. Such evidence suggests that though Akhenaten shifted funding away from traditional temples, his policies were fairly tolerant until some point, perhaps a particular event as yet unknown, toward the end of the reign. Following Akhenaten's death, change was gradual at first. Within a decade a comprehensive political, religious and artistic reformation began promoting a return of Egyptian life to the norms it had followed during his father's reign. Much of the art and building infrastructure created during Akhenaten's reign was defaced or destroyed in the period following his death, particularly during the reigns of Horemheb and the early 19th Dynasty kings. Stone building blocks from Akhenaten's construction projects were later used as foundation stones for subsequent rulers' temples and tombs. Pharaoh and family depictionsedit Further information: Amarna art Limestone statuette of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and a princess. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London Limestone trial piece showing the distinctive Amarna-style elongation of Akhenaten's face. Shallow sunk relief. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London Styles of art that flourished during this short period are markedly different from other Egyptian art. In some cases, representations are more naturalistic, especially in depictions of animals and plants, of commoners, and in a sense of action and movement for both non-royal and royal people. However, depictions of members of the court, especially members of the royal family, are extremely stylized, with elongated heads, protruding stomachs, heavy hips, thin arms and legs, and exaggerated facial features.30 Significantly, and for the only time in the history of Egyptian royal art, Akhenaten's family are shown taking part in decidedly naturalistic activities, showing affection for each other, and being caught in mid-action (in traditional art, a pharaoh's divine nature was expressed by repose, even immobility). The depictions of action may correspond to the emphasis on the active, creative nurturing of the Aten emphasized in the "Great Hymn to the Aten" and elsewhere. Small statue of Akhenaten wearing the Egyptian Blue Crown of War Nefertiti also appears, both beside the king and alone (or with her daughters), in actions usually reserved for a pharaoh, suggesting that she enjoyed unusual status for a queen. Early artistic representations of her tend to be indistinguishable from her husband's except by her regalia, but soon after the move to the new capital, Nefertiti begins to be depicted with features specific to her. Questions remain whether the beauty of Nefertiti is portraiture or idealism. Why representations of Akhenaten depict him in a bizarre, strikingly androgynous way, remains a vigorously debated question. Religious reasons have been suggested, such as to emulate the creative nature of the Aten, who is called in Amarna tomb texts "mother and father" of all that is. Or, it has been suggested, Akhenaten's (and his family's) portraiture exaggerates his distinctive physical traits. Until Akhenaten's mummy is positively identified, such theories remain speculative. Some scholars do identify Mummy 61074, found in KV55, an unfinished tomb in the Valley of the Kings, as Akhenaten's.31 If so, or if the KV 55 mummy is that of his close relative, Smenkhkare, its measurements tend to support the theory that Akhenaten's depictions exaggerate his actual appearance. Though the mummy consists only of disarticulated bones, the skull is long and has a prominent chin, and the limbs are light and long. In 2007, Zahi Hawass and a team of researchers made CT Scan images of Mummy 61074. They have concluded that the elongated skull, cheek bones, cleft palate, and impacted wisdom tooth suggest that the mummy is the father of Tutankhamun, and thus is Akhenaten. The Wilbour Plaque, ca. 1352-1336 B.C.E, Brooklyn Museum This relief depicts Akhenaten and Nefertiti late in their reign. Family and relationsedit See also: Family tree of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt Brown quartzite inlay head of Akhenaten or Nefertiti. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL, London Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their children As Amenhotep IV, Akhenaten was married to Nefertiti at the very beginning of his reign, and six daughters were identified from inscriptions. Recent DNA analysis has revealed that with one of his biological sisters, the "Younger Lady" mummy, Akhenaten fathered Tutankhaten (later Tutankhamen).32 The parentage of Smenkhkare, his successor, is unknown, and Akhenaten and an unknown wife have been proposed to be his parents. A secondary wife of Akhenaten named Kiya is known from inscriptions. Some have theorized that she gained her importance as the mother of Tutankhamen, Smenkhkare, or both. This is a list of Akhenaten's children (known and theoretical) with suggested years of birth: * Smenkhkare — year 35 or 36 of Amenhotep III's reign * Meritaten — year 1. * Meketaten — year 3, possibly earlier. * Ankhesenpaaten, later Queen of Tutankhamun — year 4. * Neferneferuaten Tasherit — year 8. * Neferneferure — year 9. * Setepenre — year 9. * Tutankhaten — year 8 or 9 — renamed Tutankhamun later.33 His known consorts were: * Nefertiti, his Great Royal Wife. * Kiya, a lesser Royal Wife. * A daughter of Šatiya, ruler of Enišasi34 * A daughter of Burna-Buriash, king of Babylon34 Alabaster sunken relief depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and daughter Meritaten. Early Aten cartouches on king's arm and chest. From Amarna, Egypt. 18th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London It has been proposed that Akhenaten may have taken some of his daughters as sexual consorts, to attempt to father a male heir by them, but this is very debatable. It does seem certain that like his father, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten named at least one daughter as Great Royal Wife, but this does not necessarily indicate she was his sexual consort as the position was also an important ceremonial position.35 * Meritaten is recorded as Great Royal Wife to Smenkhkare in the tomb of Meryre II in Akhet-Aten. She is also listed alongside King Akhenaten and King Neferneferuaten as Great Royal Wife on a box from the tomb of Tutankhamen. Letters written to Akhenaten from foreign rulers make reference to Meritaten as 'mistress of the house'. * Meketaten, Akhenaten's second daughter. Meketaten's death, at perhaps the age of 10 to 12, is recorded in the royal tombs of Amarna about the year 13 or 14. Her death was attributed to possibly from childbirth, because of a depiction of an infant with her. Because no husband is known for Meketaten, the assumption has been that Akhenaten was the father. The inscription giving the filiation of the child is damaged, thereby preventing resolution of the issue; alternate explanations proposed have been that Meketaten died of plague, or that the child is a portrayal of Meketaten's ka (soul). * Various monuments, originally for Kiya, were reinscribed for Akhenaten's daughters Meritaten and Ankhesenpaaten; the revised inscriptions list a Meritaten-tasherit ("junior") and an Ankhesenpaaten-tasherit. Some view this to indicate that Akhenaten fathered his own grandchildren. Others hold that, since these grandchildren are not attested to elsewhere, they are fictions invented to fill the space originally filled by Kiya's child.36 Two other lovers have been suggested, but are not widely accepted: * Smenkhkare, Akhenaten's successor and/or co-ruler for the last years of his reign. Rather than a lover, however, Smenkhkare is likely to have been a half-brother or a son to Akhenaten. Some have even suggested that Smenkhkare was actually an alias of Nefertiti or Kiya, and therefore one of Akhenaten's wives (see below). * Tiye, his mother. Twelve years after the death of Amenhotep III, she is still mentioned in inscriptions as queen and beloved of the king, but kings' mothers often were. The few supporters of this theory (notably Immanuel Velikovsky) consider Akhenaten to be the historical model of legendary King Oedipus of Thebes, Greece and Tiye the model for his mother/wife Jocasta. International relationsedit Akhenaten in the typical Amarna period style. Painted limestone miniature stela. It shows Akhenaten standing before 2 incense stands, Aten disc above. From Amarna, Egypt. 18th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London The Amarna Letters, a cache of diplomatic correspondence discovered in modern times at el-Amarna (the modern designation of the site of Akhetaten), have provided important evidence about Akhenaten's reign and foreign policy. This correspondence comprises a priceless collection of incoming messages on clay tablets sent to Akhetaten from various subject rulers through Egyptian military outposts and from the foreign rulers (recognized as "Great kings") of the kingdom ofMitanni, of Babylon, of Assyria, and of Hatti. The governors and kings of Egypt's subject domains also wrote frequently to plead for gold from the pharaoh, and also complained that he had snubbed and cheated them. Early in his reign, Akhenaten had conflicts with Tushratta, the king of Mitanni, who had courted favor with his father against the Hittites. Tushratta complains in numerous letters that Akhenaten had sent him gold-plated statues rather than statues made of solid gold; the statues formed part of the bride-price which Tushratta received for letting his daughter Tadukhepamarry Amenhotep III and then later marry Akhenaten. Amarna letter EA 27 preserves a complaint by Tushratta to Akhenaten about the situation: Plaster portrait study of a pharaoh, Ahkenaten or a co-regent or successor. Discovered within the workshop of the royal sculptor Thutmose at Amarna, now part of the Ägyptisches Museum collection in Berlin. While Akhenaten was certainly not a close friend of Tushratta, he was evidently concerned at the expanding power of theHittite Empire under its powerful ruler Suppiluliuma I. A successful Hittite attack on Mitanni and its ruler Tushratta would have disrupted the entire international balance of power in the Ancient Middle East at a time when Egypt had made peace with Mitanni; this would cause some of Egypt's vassals to switch their allegiances to the Hittites, as time would prove. A group of Egypt's allies who attempted to rebel against the Hittites were captured, and wrote letters begging Akhenaten for troops, but he did not respond to most of their pleas. Evidence suggests that the troubles on the northern frontier led to difficulties inCanaan, particularly in a struggle for power between Labaya of Shechem and Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem, which required the pharaoh to intervene in the area by dispatching Medjay troops northwards. Akhenaten pointedly refused to save his vassal Rib-Hadda of Byblos — whose kingdom was being besieged by the expanding state of Amurru under Abdi-Ashirta and later Aziru, son of Abdi-Ashirta — despite Rib-Hadda's numerous pleas for help from the pharaoh. Rib-Hadda wrote a total of 60 letters to Akhenaten pleading for aid from the pharaoh. Akhenaten wearied of Rib-Hadda's constant correspondences and once told Rib-Hadda: "You are the one that writes to me more than all the (other) mayors" or Egyptian vassals in EA 124.38 What Rib-Hadda did not comprehend was that the Egyptian king would not organize and dispatch an entire army north just to preserve the political status quo of several minor city states on the fringes of Egypt's Asiatic Empire.39 Rib-Hadda would pay the ultimate price; his exile from Byblos due to a coup led by his brother Ilirabih is mentioned in one letter. When Rib-Hadda appealed in vain for aid from Akhenaten and then turned to Aziru, his sworn enemy, to place him back on the throne of his city, Aziru promptly had him dispatched to the king of Sidon, where Rib-Hadda was almost certainly executed.40 William L. Moran41 notes that the Amarna corpus of 380+ letters counters the conventional view that Akhenaten neglected Egypt's foreign territories in favour of his internal reforms. Several letters from Egyptian vassals notify the pharaoh that they have followed his instructions: When the loyal but unfortunate Rib-Hadda was killed at the instigation of Aziru,40 Akhenaten sent an angry letter to Aziru containing a barely veiled accusation of outright treachery on the latter's part.43 Akhenaten wrote: Head of Akhenaten This letter shows that Akhenaten paid close attention to the affairs of his vassals in Canaan and Syria. Akhenaten commanded Aziru to come to Egypt and proceeded to detain him there for at least one year. In the end, Akhenaten was forced to release Aziru back to his homeland when the Hittites advanced southwards into Amki, thereby threatening Egypt's series of Asiatic vassal states, including Amurru.45 Sometime after his return to Amurru, Aziru defected to the Hittite side with his kingdom.46 While it is known from an Amarna letter by Rib-Hadda that the Hittites "seized all the countries that were vassals of the king of Mitanni" (EA 75)47Akhenaten managed to preserve Egypt's control over the core of her Near Eastern Empire (which consisted of present-day Israel as well as the Phoenician coast) while avoiding conflict with the increasingly powerful Hittite Empire of Suppiluliuma I. Only the Egyptian border province of Amurru in Syria around the Orontes river was permanently lost to the Hittites when its ruler Aziru defected to the Hittites. Finally, contrary to the conventional view of a ruler who neglected Egypt's international relations, Akhenaten is known to have initiated at least one campaign into Nubia in his regnal Year 12, where his campaign is mentioned in Amada stela CG 41806 and on a separate companion stela at Buhen.48 Death, burial and successionedit Further information: Amarna succession Akhenaten's sarcophagusreconstituted from pieces discovered in his original tomb in Amarna, now in theEgyptian Museum, Cairo. The last dated appearance of Akhenaten and the Amarna family is in the tomb of Meryra II, and dates from second month, year 12 of his reign.49 After this the historical record is unclear, and only with the succession of Tutankhamun is somewhat clarified. The desecrated royal coffin of Akhenaten found in Tomb KV55 In December 2012, it was announced that a Year 16 III Akhet day 15 inscription dated explicitly to Akhenaten's reign which mentions, in the same breath, the presence of a living Queen Nefertiti, was found in a limestone quarry at Deir el-Bersha just north of Amarna.505152 The text refers to a building project in Amarna, and establishes that Akhenaten and Nefertiti were still a royal couple just a year before Akhenaten's death. Profile view of the skull of Akhenaten recovered from KV55 Akhenaten planned to relocate Egyptian burials on the east side of the Nile (sunrise) rather than on the west side (sunset) to the Royal Wadi in Akhetaten.[citation needed] His body was removed after the court returned to Thebes, and recent genetic tests have confirmed that the body found buried in tomb KV55 was the father of Tutankhamun, and is therefore "most probably" Akhenaten,53 The tomb contained numerous Amarna era objects, including a royal funerary mask which had been deliberately destroyed. His sarcophagus was destroyed but has been reconstructed and now sits outside in the Cairo Museum. Fragmentary ushabtis of Akhenaten from his original tomb in Amarna, now in the Brooklyn Museum. Similarly, although it is accepted that Akhenaten himself died in Year 17 of his reign, the question of whether Smenkhkare became co-regent perhaps two or three years earlier or enjoyed a brief independent reign is unclear.54 If Smenkhkare outlived Akhenaten, and became sole pharaoh, he likely ruled Egypt for less than a year. The next successor was Neferneferuaten, a female pharaoh who reigned in Egypt for two years and one month.55 She was, in turn, probably succeeded by Tutankhaten (later, Tutankhamun), with the country being administered by the chief vizier, and future pharaoh, Ay. Tutankhamun was believed to be a younger brother of Smenkhkare and a son of Akhenaten, and possibly Kiya although one scholar has suggested that Tutankhamun may have been a son of Smenkhkare instead. DNA tests in 2010 indicated Tutankhamun was indeed the son of Akhenaten.56 It has been suggested that after the death of Akhenaten, Nefertiti reigned with the name of Neferneferuaten57 but other scholars believe this female ruler was rather Meritaten. The so-called Coregency Stela, found in a tomb in Amarna possibly shows his queenNefertiti as his coregent, ruling alongside him, but this is not certain as the names have been removed and recarved to show Ankhesenpaaten and Neferneferuaten.58[not in citation given] With Akhenaten's death, the Aten cult he had founded gradually fell out of favor. Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun in Year 2 of his reign (1332 BC) and abandoned the city of Akhetaten, which eventually fell into ruin. His successors Ay and Horemheb disassembled temples Akhenaten had built, including the temple at Thebes, using them as a source of easily available building materials and decorations for their own temples. Finally, Akhenaten, Neferneferuaten, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun, and Ay were excised from the official lists of pharaohs, which instead reported that Amenhotep III was immediately succeeded by Horemheb. This is thought to be part of an attempt by Horemheb to delete all trace of Atenism and the pharaohs associated with it from the historical record.59 Akhenaten's name does not appear on any of the king lists compiled by later pharaohs and it was not until the late 19th century that his identity was re-discovered and the surviving traces of his reign were unearthed by archaeologists. The Inscription of Mes document which dates to Ramesside times refers to Akhenaten himself as "the enemy of Akhetaton" as Egyptians had fully rejected his revolution by this time and the crisis which it sparked.60 Implementation of Atenism and later collapseedit Main article: Atenism Relief fragment showing a royal head, probably Akhenaten, and early Aten cartouches. Aten extends Ankh (sign of life) to the figure. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London Hieroglyphs on the backpillar of Amenhotep III's statue. There are 2 places where Akhenaten's agents erased the name Amun, later restored on a deeper surface. The British Museum, London In the early years of his reign, Amenhotep IV lived at Thebes with Nefertiti and his six daughters. Initially, he permitted worship of Egypt's traditional deities to continue but near the Temple of Karnak (Amun-Ra's great cult center), he erected several massive buildings including temples to the Aten. Aten was usually depicted as a sun disk with rays extending with long arms and tiny human hands at each end.61 These buildings at Thebes were later dismantled by his successors and used as infill for new constructions in the Temple of Karnak; when they were later dismantled by archaeologists, some 36,000 decorated blocks from the original Aton building here were revealed which preserve many elements of the original relief scenes and inscriptions.62 Akhenaten depicted as a sphinx atAmarna. In Year 5 of his reign, Amenhotep IV took decisive steps to establish the Aten as the sole god of Egypt: the pharaoh "disbanded the priesthoods of all the other gods...and diverted the income from these other cults to support the Aten". To emphasize his complete allegiance to the Aten, the king officially changed his name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten or 'Living Spirit of Aten.'62 Akhenaten's fifth year also marked the beginning of construction on his new capital, Akhetaten or 'Horizon of Aten', at the site known today as Amarna. Very soon afterwards, he centralized Egyptian religious practices in Akhetaten, though construction of the city seems to have continued for several more years. In honor of Aten, Akhenaten also oversaw the construction of some of the most massive temple complexes in ancient Egypt. In these new temples, Aten was worshipped in the open sunlight rather than in dark temple enclosures as had been the previous custom. Akhenaten is also believed to have composed theGreat Hymn to the Aten. Inscribed limestone fragment showing early Aten cartouches, "the Living Ra Horakhty". Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London Fragment of a stela, showing parts of 3 late cartouches of Aten. There is a rare intermediate form of god's name. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London Limestone fragment column showing reeds and an early Aten cartouche. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London Initially, Akhenaten presented Aten as a variant of the familiar supreme deity Amun-Re (itself the result of an earlier rise to prominence of the cult of Amun, resulting in Amun's becoming merged with the sun god Ra), in an attempt to put his ideas in a familiar Egyptian religious context. However, by Year 9 of his reign, Akhenaten declared that Aten was not merely the supreme god, but the only worshipable god, and that he, Akhenaten, was the only intermediary between Aten and his people. He ordered the defacing of Amun's temples throughout Egypt and, in a number of instances, inscriptions of the plural 'gods' were also removed.[citation needed] Siliceous limestone fragment of a statue. There are late Aten cartouches on the draped right shoulder. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London Aten's name also is written differently after Year 9 to emphasize the radicalism of the new regime, which included a ban on images, with the exception of a rayed solar disc, in which the rays (commonly depicted ending in hands) appear to represent the unseen spirit of Aten, who by then was evidently considered not merely a sun god, but rather a universal deity. Representations of the Aten were always accompanied with a sort of hieroglyphic footnote, stating that the representation of the sun as all-encompassing creator was to be taken as just that: a representation of something that, by its very nature as something transcending creation, cannot be fully or adequately represented by any one part of that creation.[citation needed] Archaeological discoveries at Akhetaten show that many ordinary residents of this city chose to gouge or chisel out all references to the god Amun on even minor personal items that they owned, such as commemorative scarabs or make-up pots, perhaps for fear of being accused of having Amunist sympathies. References to Amenhotep III, Akhenaten's father, were partly erased since they contained the traditional Amun form of his name: Nebmaatre Amunhotep.63 As the Egytologist Nicholas Reeves writes: In the end, Akhenaten's revolution collapsed from within after his death since the massive costs of founding a new capital city at El-Amarna and the closing of the Amun temples choked off the growth of the Egyptian economy. A notable result of Akhenaten's centralisation tendencies was the appearance of large-scale corruption among the king's state officials who held unprecedented control over all the wealth and produce of Egypt. This was a tendency that the last 18th Dynasty pharaohHoremheb was compelled to deal with by threatening to cut off the nose of any officials who were found to be involved in state corruption or abuses in a major stela erected near the 10th pylon of Karnak.64 Nicolas Grimal states that Akhenaten's closure or limitations on the activities of non-Aten temples and his confiscation of priestly goods for the benefit of the state directly led: Speculative theoriesedit Sculptor's trial piece of Akhenaten. Akhenaten's status as a religious revolutionary has led to much speculation, ranging from scholarly hypotheses to non-academic fringe theories. Although some believe the religion he introduced was mostly monotheistic, many others see Akhenaten as a practitioner of an Aten monolatry,66 as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods; he simply refrained from worshiping any but the Aten while expecting the people to worship not Aten but him. Akhenaten and monotheism in Abrahamic religionsedit The idea of Akhenaten as the pioneer of a monotheistic religion that later became Judaism has been considered by various scholars.676869707172 One of the first to mention this was Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, in his book''Moses and Monotheism''.73 Basing his arguments on a belief that the Exodus story was historical, Freud argued that Moses had been an Atenist priest forced to leave Egypt with his followers after Akhenaten's death. Freud argued that Akhenaten was striving to promote monotheism, something that the biblical Moses was able to achieve.67 Following his book, the concept entered popular consciousness and serious research.74 Freud commented on the connection between Adonai, the Egyptian Aten and the Syrian divine name of Adonis as a primeval unity of language between the factions;67 in this he was following the argument of Egyptologist Arthur Weigall. Jan Assmann's opinion is that 'Aten' and 'Adonai' are not linguistically related.75 It is widely accepted that there are strong stylistic similarities between Akhenaten's Great Hymn to the Aten and the Biblical Psalm 104, though this form is found widespread in ancient Near Eastern hymnology both before and after the period. Others have likened some aspects of Akhenaten's relationship with the Aten to the relationship, in Christian tradition, of Jesus Christ with God, particularly in interpretations that emphasize a more monotheistic interpretation of Atenism than henotheistic. Donald B. Redford has noted that some have viewed Akhenaten as a harbinger of Jesus. "After all, Akhenaten did call himself the son of the sole god: 'Thine only son that came forth from thy body'."76 James Henry Breasted likened him to Jesus,77 Arthur Weigall saw him as a failed precursor of Christ and Thomas Mann saw him "as right on the way and yet not the right one for the way".78 Redford argued that while Akhenaten called himself the son of the Sun-Disc and acted as the chief mediator between god and creation, kings for thousands of years before Akhenaten's time had claimed the same relationship and priestly role. However Akhenaten's case may be different through the emphasis placed on the heavenly father and son relationship. Akhenaten described himself as "thy son who came forth from thy limbs", "thy child", "the eternal son that came forth from the Sun-Disc", and "thine only son that came forth from thy body". The close relationship between father and son is such that only the king truly knows the heart of "his father", and in return his father listens to his son's prayers. He is his father's image on earth, and as Akhenaten is king on earth, his father is king in heaven. As high priest, prophet, king and divine he claimed the central position in the new religious system. Because only he knew his father's mind and will, Akhenaten alone could interpret that will for all mankind with true teaching coming only from him.76 Redford concluded: Possible illnessedit See also: Aromatase excess syndrome § Notable cases Hieratic inscription on a pottery fragment. It records year 17 of Akhenaten's reign and reference to wine of the house of Aten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London Limestone trial piece of a king, probably Akhenaten, and a smaller head of uncertain gender. From Amarna, Egypt. 18th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London The rather strange and eccentric portrayals of Akhenaten, with a sagging stomach, thick thighs, large breasts, and long, thin face — so different from the athletic norm in the portrayal of pharaohs — have led certain Egyptologists to suppose that Akhenaten suffered some kind of genetic abnormality. Various illnesses have been put forward. On the basis of his long jaw and his feminine appearance, Cyril Aldred,80 following up earlier arguments of Grafton Elliot Smith81 and James Strachey,82 suggested he may have suffered from Froelich's Syndrome. However, this is unlikely because this disorder results in sterility and Akhenaten is known to have fathered numerous children. These children are repeatedly portrayed through years of archaeological and iconographic evidence — at least six daughters by Queen Nefertiti, well known as the King and Queen's six princesses of Amarna, as well as his successor Tutankhamun by a minor wife.[citation needed] Another suggestion by Burridge83 is that Akhenaten may have suffered from Marfan's Syndrome. Marfan's syndrome, unlike Froelich's, does not result in any lack of intelligence or sterility. It is associated with a sunken chest, long curved spider-like fingers (arachnodactyly), occasional congenital heart difficulties, a high curved or slightly cleft palate, and a highly curved cornea or dislocated lens of the eye, with the requirement for bright light to see well. Marfan's sufferers tend towards being taller than average, with a long, thin face, and elongated skull, overgrown ribs, a funnel or pigeon chest, and larger pelvis, with enlarged thighs and spindly calves.84 Marfan's syndrome is a dominant characteristic, and sufferers have a 50% chance of passing it on to their children.85 All of these symptoms arguably sometimes appear in depictions of Akhenaten and of his children. Recent CT scans of Tutankhamun report a cleft palate and a fairly long head, as well as an abnormal curvature of the spine and fusion of the upper vertebrae, a condition associated with scoliosis, all conditions associated with Marfan's syndrome. However, DNA tests on Tutankhamun, in 2010, proved negative for Marfan Syndrome.8687 More recently, Homocystinuria was suggested as a possible diagnosis.88 Patients suffering from homocystinuria have Marfan habitus. However, as an autosomal recessive disease, it seems to fit better into Akhenaten's family tree — Akhenaten's parents, Amenhotep III and Tiye, were probably healthy, and Marfan Syndrome was ruled out following DNA tests on Tutankhamun in 2010.86 However, Dominic Montserrat in Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt states that "there is now a broad consensus among Egyptologists that the exaggerated forms of Akhenaten's physical portrayal... are not to be read literally".71Montserrat and others89 argue that the body-shape relates to some form of religious symbolism. Because the god Aten was referred to as "the mother and father of all humankind" it has been suggested that Akhenaten was made to look androgynousin artwork as a symbol of the androgyny of the god. This required "a symbolic gathering of all the attributes of the creator god into the physical body of the king himself", which will "display on earth the Aten's multiple life-giving functions".71 Akhenaten did refer to himself as "The Unique One of Re", and he may have used his control of artistic expression to distance himself from the common people, though such a radical departure from the idealized traditional representation of the image of the pharaoh would be truly extraordinary. Another unfounded claim was made by Immanuel Velikovsky, who hypothesized an incestuous relationship with his mother, Tiye. Velikovsky also posited that Akhenaten had swollen legs. Based on this, he identified Akhenaten as the history behind the Oedipus myth, Oedipus being Greek for "swollen feet", and moved the setting from the Greek Thebes to the Egyptian Thebes. As part of his argument, Velikovsky uses the fact that Akhenaten viciously carried out a campaign to erase the name of his father, which he argues could have developed into Oedipus killing his father.90 In 2012, Hutan Ashrafian, a surgeon at Imperial College London, published research into the early death of Akhenaten and the premature deaths of other 18th Dynasty pharaohs (including Tutankhamun and Thutmose IV). He identifies that their early deaths were probably a result of a Familial Temporal Epilepsy. This would account for the untimely death of Akhenaten, his abnormal endocrine body shape on sculptures and can also explain Akhenaten's religious conviction due to this type of epilepsy’s association with intense spiritual visions and religiosity.91 However, because there is currently no definitive genetic test for epilepsy, the theory remains impossible to prove.92 Smenkhkareedit Main article: Smenkhkare Various uninscribed and damaged stelae depict Akhenaten with what appears to be a coregent wearing a king's crown in familiar if not intimate settings (even naked). Since Smenkhkare was known to be a male, this led to the speculation that Akhenaten was homosexual. These notions were discarded once the coregent was identified as a female, most likely his wife. In the 1970s, John Harris identified the figure pictured alongside Akhenaten as Nefertiti, arguing that she may have actually been elevated to coregent and perhaps even succeeded temporarily as an independent ruler, changing her name to Smenkhkare.71 Nicholas Reeves and other Egyptologists contend that Smenkhkare was the same person as Neferneferuaten, who ruled together with Akhenaten as coregent for the final one or two years of Akhenaten's reign. On several monuments, the two are shown seated side by side.93 More recent research by James Allen94 and Marc Gabolde95 has led to "a fair degree of consensus"96 that Neferneferuaten was a female ruler apart from Smenkhkare. Abilities After being reanimated back to life, Akhenaten showed great physical combat prowess and significantly higher endurance than most of the opponents that Bayek has ever faced. Trivia * Akhenaten's original name, Amenhotep, meant "Amun is satisfied", while the name which he took reflect the new religion he created, meaning "Effective for the Aten". * Akhenaten's legacy, both in-game and in real life, was short-lived. Akhenaten's alleged sons, Tutankhamun and Smenkhkare, both chose to reject his monothestic worship of the Aten. Whilst Tutankhamun, in-game, chose to relinquish completely the relic of his father, Smenkhkare instead chose to found the Order of the Ancients in deference to the "gods" Akhenaten had abandoned. Category:Characters